Wi-re-stretcher



(No Model.) I v A. J. UPHAM.

WIBE'STRETGHBR.

' No. 542,296. Patented July 9,1895.

INITED STATES PATENT O FI E.

ANDREI/V J. UPHAM, OF SYGAMORE, ILLINOIS.

WLRE-STRETCHER.

I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 542,296, dated July 9, 1895.

To all whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. UPHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sycamore, in the county of De Kalb and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-.Stretchers; and I do declare the following to befafull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention has reference to that class of wire-stretchers in which a notched bar'is attached at one end, through the medium of a chain or hook, either to a post or to one end of a wire to be spliced, as the case may be, and passed through a hand-lever provided with an operating-pawl and a retaining-pawl. The end of the lever is attached to the opposite wire, and as its oscillations advance said lever along said barit thereby brings together the wires to be spliced, or draws the wire to the post, as the case may be.

One feature of my invention consists of the flexible clamp for attaching the lever to the wire or fence. This clamp is pivotally attached to the upper end of the operating-lever and substantially at right angles thereto. The clamp consists of four parts flexibly interconnected and attached to the end of said lever. The joint opposite to the attachment to said lever is provided with means, hereinafter described, for clasping the wire to be drawn.

Heretofore the movement of the operatinglever backwardly upon the notched bar has been hampered by the difficulty of keeping at once both the actuating and retaining pawls out of engagement with the notches of said bar, and a further improvement in my present invention isthe prolongation of the actuating-pawl beyond said lever adaptedto enter the usual slot in the retaining-pawl, and providing said extension with a-shoulder, which renders it feasible to hold said pawl against said shoulder, whereby the mutual relation of the actuating and retaining pawls is fixed, and

by simply holding the actuating-pawl out of Application filed August 7,1894. Serial No. 519,639. (No model.) V

engagement with the notched bar said lever can be readily moved in either direction upon said bar.

The devices aforesaid are illustrated in the v with a hook C. By passing the chain B around a post and hooking the hook 0 into said chain the bar A is held in positionfor working the operating-lever with its attached wire up to said post.

Then it is desired to draw together the adjacent ends of two wires for the purpose of splicing the same, one of said ends is slipped into the slot D, formed on hook C, obliquely to theline of draft, and thereby drawn through the medium of chain B. The slotD is formed with converging walls, between which ordinary plain wire will wedge itself, and in the case of barb-wire said recess is placed behind the end barb, and in either case the wire is held in line with the main body thereof.

. E is a hand-lever, provided near its operating end with slot F, through which is passed the free end of the bar A, with the notches G toward the handle end of said lever.

H is an actuating-pawl pivoted on the lever E in position to engage the notches G in the oscillations of said lever.

J is an arm formed on the operative end of lever E, or integral therewith. To the end of 'arm J is pivotally attached the flexible clamp K, which consists of the parts 1 1, mutually pivoted to J at 2, and the parts 3 and 4: mutually pivoted at their outer ends and respectively pivoted at their inner ends to the parts 1 1. Theouter end of the part 4 is provided with a cam-face 5, and the outer end of the part 3 is provided with a ledge 6. The wire to be drawn is placed between the cam 5 and the ledge 6 and slightly compressed by moving the opposite ends of 3 and 4: inward. The

subsequent draft on said wire through lever E sufficiently tightens the pressure between said cam and ledge. The wire is released-at any time by a reverse movement of the lever E, and any end compression or stroke on the end of clamp K, which serves to widen the latter at the junction of parts 1 1 with 3 4, will thus remove cam 5 from ledge 6.

L is the retaining-pawl, pivotally seated on one end of arm J and provided with slot 7, in line with slot F of lever E, through which the bar A also passes. The outer end of the slot 7 is adapted to engage the notches G of bar A alternately with actuating-pawl H.

The engagement of the pawl L is insured by means of a spring M, coiled centrally around the pivot 8 of said pawl, with its ends abutting against lugs 9, formed on the sides of said pawl.

N is the prolongation of pawl H, provided with a shoulder 10 near its outer end. This end N of pawl H is so located relative to the pivoted end of the pawl L that when the latter is drawn toward the lever E the end N enters the slot 7, the wall of the latter rising against shoulder 10, and the operator, by throwing his finger over the pawl L, can hold the latter out of engagement with bar A, when, in moving lever E- loosely on bar A, he has simply to hold pawl H out of engagement. Arm J may be integral with lever E.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In awire stretcher, the combination, with a lever, one end of which is slotted and provided with an arm, of a flexible clamp pivotally secured to one end of the arm, and aslotted pawl pivotally secured to the other, a notch bar through the lever, and through the pawl, one end of which is provided with means for securing the wire thereto, a pawl within the lever, one end of which engages with the notched bar and the other end is adapted to be engaged by the slotted portion of the other pawl, whereby the two pawls may be locked out of engagement with the bar, substantially as set forth.

2. In a wire stretcher, the combination of a notched bar, a lever E sleeved on said bar and provided with pawls H and L, said pawl I-I being provided with shoulder 10, and said pawl L with slot 7 adapted to receive the adjacent end of pawl H and abut against shoulder 10 substantially as shown and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I atfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ANDREW J. UPI-1AM.

Witnesses:

JOHN G. MANAHAN, H. C. WARD. 

